Activists Push to Create Largely Latino Valley Council District

The ink is barely dry on the Los Angeles City Council’s new redistricting map, but Latino political activists already plan to push for changes in the next reapportionment to help elect the first Latino council member from the San Fernando Valley.

City officials who worked on the recently approved redistricting predict that the East Valley will get a predominantly Latino council district after the 1990 census because of the area’s growing Latino population. Valley Latinos say they stand a better chance of getting such a district because of the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that prompted the recent redistricting.

“We were encouraged by the Justice Department’s involvement in this redistricting,” said Richard Alarcon, chairman of the Valley chapter of the Mexican American Political Assn., “because it put the city on notice” not to dilute Latino voting rights.

The likely areas for a Valley Latino district are Councilman Howard Finn’s northeast Valley district, Councilman Ernani Bernardi’s central Valley district or a new East Valley district created from heavily Latino parts of each, city officials say.

Boosts Latino Count

The redistricting plan approved by the council July 30 boosted the Latino population in Finn’s 1st District from 36% to just over 40%, based on 1980 census figures. That gave the 1st District a higher Latino population than all but two of the 15 council districts--the 14th on the Eastside and the new 13th on the edge of downtown Los Angeles.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, who drafted the recent redistricting plan, said the Latino population in the 1st District is probably even higher because Latino movement into the area has continued since the census.

Bernardi said, “I’d be very surprised if that district today were not more than 50% Hispanic.”

There have long been small Latino barrios in the Valley, an otherwise primarily white community. But over the years the Latino population in the Valley has grown dramatically, from 11.6% in the 1970 census to 18% in the 1980 tally. Pacoima was 53% Latino in 1980; Sun Valley, 29%; Sylmar, 28%, and North Hollywood, 23%, census figures show. Some census tracts in Pacoima were as much as 90% Latino.

Fueled by Lawsuit

The push for a predominantly Latino Valley district has been fueled by the Justice Department lawsuit, which accused the city of splitting Latino neighborhoods among several council districts in the central city--and diluting their political clout--in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In response, the council approved the redistricting plan, which placed Councilmen John Ferraro and Michael Woo in the same Hollywood-Wilshire district while creating a predominantly Latino district on the edge of downtown.

Alatorre said the lawsuit should encourage Latino political activists in the Valley because it recognized the Valley’s growing Latino population. While focusing primarily on the central city, the suit also complained about the exclusion of Latino neighborhoods in North Hollywood and Sun Valley from Finn’s district.

In response, the council made a slight change in the district lines, moving some of those areas from Bernardi’s district to Finn’s and moving heavily white areas of Mission Hills into Bernardi’s.

Way to Maximize Influence

Creating another Latino-dominated district is seen as a way for Valley Latinos to maximize their influence on city government, said Richard Fajardo, lead counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, an intervenor in the Justice Department lawsuit.

“The whole purpose of these exercises is not simply to upset the apple cart but really to try to get people to listen to the different problems that the Latino community has,” Fajardo said. “Even if you don’t have a Latino elected, you have a large number of persons who vote and have an impact and get commitments from those elected.”

“Pacoima and Sun Valley, for example, have particular needs,” Fajardo said. “Up until now, because they have been a minority, they have not been able to put the squeeze on elected officials to deal with their problems.”

Although he had no specific criticisms of Finn or Bernardi, Fajardo said: “A Latino who is elected from Pacoima or Sun Valley is going to know the problems in Pacoima and Sun Valley. He’s going to be in tune with the needs of the community there, and he’s going to be responsive to those needs.”

Alatorre Only Latino

Alatorre, elected last year, is the only Latino on the 15-member council, despite the city’s 27% Latino population.

The council’s next regular reapportionment will occur after the 1990 census. The council is bound by law to redistrict after each census to account for changes in population. Each district must have equal population figures.

The lawsuit also has generated renewed interest in proposals to expand the council, which would virtually assure creation of a predominantly Latino seat in the East Valley. A proposal to expand the council from 15 to 17 members was soundly defeated by voters last year and observers attributed the rejection to fear that it would cost taxpayers more money.

The political association’s Alarcon said Latinos need at least a 65% majority of residents in a council district to make a difference politically because many Latinos are not citizens or are not registered to vote. To that end, he said he hopes to persuade the council to combine the most heavily Latino neighborhoods in Bernardi’s and Finn’s districts, creating a district that would include Pacoima and Sun Valley with heavily Latino areas of North Hollywood, Panorama City and Van Nuys.

Hopes to Revive Proposal

Alarcon said he also hopes to revive a proposal from this year’s redistricting debate that would move the predominantly white Sunland-Tujunga area out of the 1st District into the neighboring 12th District represented by Councilman Hal Bernson.

That shift was pushed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Though the council never acted on the proposal, several members opposed it, including Finn, who would have lost a base of political support in Sunland-Tujunga.

Finn said he believes the Valley’s first predominantly Latino district will be carved out of Bernardi’s central Valley district, not his. Bernardi’s 7th District was 23% Latino, according to the 1980 census.

Finn predicted that the dramatic population increases in Sylmar will move his district north. As that occurs, he sees Bernardi’s district taking over a lot of his heavily Latino neighborhoods.

Flaws in Thinking Cited

Bernardi and Finn said establishing a Latino majority in a district will not assure election of a Latino councilman. Both cite the repeated reelection of former Councilman Arthur K. Snyder, of Irish descent, to the heavily Latino Eastside council district and to the reelection of Mayor Tom Bradley, a black, in a city with a 17% black population.

Alatorre agreed that a Latino would not necessarily win in a heavily Latino district, but said it is likely eventually.

Alatorre cited the election in April of a Latino majority to the San Fernando City Council as an encouraging sign to Valley Latinos.

“For such a long period of time, they were unable to elect a Hispanic to the City Council,” Alatorre said of San Fernando, even though that city’s population is more than half Latino. “Now, Hispanics have a majority of the members of the City Council.”